STATE OF ILLINOIS

•POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

In the Matter of:

~R70—l

REPEAL OF EXEMPTION REGULATIONS

Opinion of the Board

(by Mr.

Kissel)

In

accordance

with the statute,

the State of Illinois Pollution

Control Board held public hearings on September

2,

1970,

in Peoria

and

on September 3,

1970,

in Chicago regarding the repeal of regula-

tions which provide for the exemption of political subdivisions

from

the Illinois Air Pollution Control Act

(since repealed)

and the

deletion of similar exemption provisions

for sanitary districts

containing over one million parsons

from all the regulations

of the

Sanitary Water Board.

1.

Certificates of Exemption.

The Air Pollution Control Act, which was

repealed by sec.

50 of

the Environmental Protection Act, allowed certificates of exemption

to he granted to political subdivisions upon the presentation of the

required proof

that those political subdivisions had

a program of

air pollution control at least as stringent

as the programs adopted

by

the Air Pollution Control Board.

Certificates

of Exemption were

granted to the City of Chicago and

the Villages of McCook, Bedford

Park

and Morton Grove.

The only matters retained from the Air Pollution Control Act

are those which relate

to subjects embraced within the Environmental

Protection Act; since no mention of any exemptions

is made

in the

Environmental Protection Act,

the old exemptions thereby

fall.

Further,

as may be seen from the opinion prepared by Mr. Lawton and

issued by the old Air Pollution Control Board and which was made

a

part of the record at the Peoria hearing,

the legislative history of

the Environmental Protection Act indicates that the legislature

did

not intend that any concept of exemption survive the enactment of the

new Act.

Under the Act,

the Board’s jurisdiction

is plenary.

Any

exemptions granted to political subdivisions under the Air Pollution

Control Act have therefore been terminated.

2.

Sanitary Districts.

Any Sanitary District which had within its territorial limits

a

human population of one million or more was exempted from the provisions

of the Sanitary Water Board Act.

1 —41

---

This exemotion was nartially removed in

1967 when SB 1177 was

enacted by

the

75th General

Assembly.

This

bill essentially provided

that

the Sanitary Water Board could adopt water quality standards which

would be applicable

to

the theretofore

exempted districts.

The new

Environmental

Protection Act

(which repeals,

inter alia,

the Sanitary

Water Board Act)

does

not

contain any exemntions

for

such sanitary

districts.

The

Act

de~ines

“ocrson

as:

any

individual,

partnership,

co-oartnership,

firm,

comnany,

corooratlon,

association,

joint

stock

conoany,

trust,

estate,

oolitical

subdivision,

state

agency,

or

any

other

legal

entity,

or

their

legal

reoresentative,

acent

or

assigns.

(Emohasis

suoolied)

Section

3

(i)

Clearly,

the

new

Act

was

intended

to,

and

does,

cover

all

sanitary

districts

within

the

State

of

Illinois,

and

therefore,

the

regula-

tions

exemotinc.

any

Sanitary

District

are

repealed.

The

~etrooolitan

Sanitary

District

of

Greater

Chicago,

in

its

appearance

before

the

Board,

urged

that

the

Board

adopt

special

rules

and

regulations

for

the

District.

The

present

statute

makes

no

provision

for exemotion

regulations;

but, unon appropriate renuest,

the Board

is willina to entertain hearings on soecific regulations

which the

District may eropose.

Section

28

of the Environmental Protection Act

sets

forth

the manner

in which

such

a proposal

is to

be presented

to

the

Board.

October

8,

1970

I

dissent:

I,

Regina

E~

Ryan, certify that the Board

has a~nroved the above

Opinion this 8th~ day

of

October,

1970,

C’

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